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Monday, July 15, 2013

Review: Iris Has Free Time by Iris Smyles

Title: Iris Has Free Time
Author: Iris Smyles
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Soft Skull Press
Publish Date: May 14, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

You like quirky memoirs.

You like short stories.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Whether passed out drunk at The New Yorker where she's
interning, assigning Cliffs Notes when hired to teach humanities at a
local college, getting banned from a fleet of Greek Island ferries, or
trying to piece together the events of yet another puzzling blackout —
"I prefer to call them pink-outs, because I'm a girl"—Iris is never short on misadventures. From quarter-life crisis to the shock of turning thirty, IrisHasFreeTime charts a madcap, melancholic course through that curious age—one's twenties—when childhood is over, supposedly."My Two Cents:

"Iris
Has Free Time" is a memoir of sorts of Iris Smyles, who has written for
many different magazines. This memoir almost reads like a series of
essays and not necessarily a continuous story. That being said, the
essays fit rather nicely together. They are not necessarily in
sequential order, which jarred me a little bit each time a time change
happened and made it a little difficult to stay in the book.

This
book was often a little more serious than I had originally expected but
also had a couple funny moments that made me laugh. There were also
some very keen, insightful bits of writing throughout the book every
once in awhile. The book was fairly uneven in some places on the whole
though. Some of the essays could have been slimmed down a little bit to
leave room for more detail in others. One of my favorite essay/chapters
was entitled Autumn in New York in which Iris captures what it's like to
be in that city during that magical time of year.

I liked how
well Ms. Smyles' stories captured New York City at the turn of the new
millennium. These stories are about youth and trying to leave that youth
behind when you're in your twenties.

My Badges

About Me

I have always loved to read. I decided to get into book blogging to share the books I love with other fellow readers! For any questions, comments, concerns or just to chat, shoot me an email at abookishaffair(at)gmail(dot)com ! I usually respond to emails quickly!
All opinions on this blog are my own, regardless of where I got the book!